It is time to get creative

In 1997, Greene County voters passed a law enforcement sales tax with the promise of a new jail with twice the room of the old one. Within two years of completion, that jail was at capacity, and it has since been overcrowded nearly every year.

In 2012, Greene County voters passed another law enforcement sales tax with the promise of more sheriff and prosecution personnel to aggressively respond to a backlog of criminal cases, and 50 more minimum security jail beds.

What both these tax proposals have in common is that they delivered on the promised relief, while having other uncomfortable consequences.

Backlogs and overcrowding are nothing new for the county, which has had a reputation for responding to crises with creativity. Alternative sentencing programs, drug and mental health courts, treatment and counseling have all been instituted in the face of a literal or impending crisis.

This time, some officials claim there are no more creative solutions. "...We've pretty much run out of options," Sheriff Jim Arnott told the News-Leader for a watchdog investigative report on jail overcrowding that ran last Sunday.

When the latest law enforcement sales tax was presented, the county prosecutor's office had a backlog of 1,500 cases that had yet to be charged. Prosecutor Dan Patterson promised that if the tax passed, with the additional personnel, those cases would be disposed of as quickly as possible. He is making good on that promise, filing months-old cases at a breakneck pace.

The downside is that judges can't handle the growing caseload. The county has been approved for a new judge, with another one possible, and that would certainly help. But there is no place for another courtroom, much less two.

Then there is the jail. This year, the 500-bed jail topped out with a population of 687, including prisoners housed in other area jails at a cost of $45 per day per prisoner. And those jails are also filling up.

This domino effect isn't going to stop. With rising numbers of violent crime in the county, staggering levels of meth use and manufacturing, troubling reports of sexual crimes and disturbing statistics on the number of women filling the jail, this is a situation that is going to continue to tumble.

It is time for some serious creative problem solving. There is no other option.

More sheriff's deputies and staff mean more aggressive law enforcement. More prosecutors and staff mean more aggressive attention to backlogged cases. More cases solved and arrests mean even more cases on prosecutors' desks. More cases filed mean courts are under pressure to dispense justice. More cases filed and in court mean more prisoners in the jail.

The county definitely needed the law enforcement sales tax, but the consequences of that are tumbling down the river like a broken-down dam.

There are some efforts underway to curb the rushing waters. Greene County judges have begun informing more people that they have been charged with a crime - and their court date - through a summons in the mail instead of an officer arriving with a warrant.

That may be slowing things down on the way down river to the jail, but, as Patterson points out, it is simply delaying the inevitable.

Expanding the courts and the jail all have their own consequences. There is simply nowhere to grow. Possible locations for another courtroom would require sheriff's employees to move, but there is nowhere for them to go. It is time to find alternatives - perhaps sharing courtrooms by having night court sessions.

Likewise, constructing a minimum security section inside the jail would unseat other sheriff's employees. Finding new homes for them all would require building or renting space, but the county has no money. In our current economic situation, we should wait, as long as possible, before adding jail space.

One way to approach overcrowding is by addressing this problem where it all starts - crime.

What is behind the growing number of crimes in the county? Why are more and more women committing violent crimes? What role does meth have in this scenario? What impact do rising poverty rates have on our crime rates?

We should look at other cities that have faced the same issues and try to determine what responses have paid off the most.

Expanding our law enforcement and judicial ranks and building bigger jails is one way to approach the problem. But the larger questions remain, and we all need to be willing to invest our energy, money and creativity in trying to find answers.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

It is time to get creative

In 1997, Greene County voters passed a law enforcement sales tax with the promise of a new jail with twice the room of the old one. Within two years of completion, that jail was at capacity, and it